KAKINADA: With no platform to showcase their talent, weightlifters in East Godavari district are appealing to the state government to encourage them by facilitating them to compete in national and international levels. They say that they are on par with the best in the world, but since they have no government backing, they are unable to prove their skills in Olympics and other world-level competitions.
According to the sportsmen, East Godavari district has produced weightlifters of quality in the past few decades. Gowthami Vyayam Kalasala in Rajahmundry, Ananda Bharati School oin Kakinada and others used to train the weightlifters and provide a platform for them. But now, there is no proper platform or academy for weightlifters to practise. According to sources, in recent times, 150 weightlifters have been selected for national competitions under 17, 19 and open categories in both boys and girls streams. Of these, 48 have bagged gold, silver and bronze medals for East Godavari district.
A weightlifter, V. Prabhakar, bagged eight international awards. Two others, Mohan and Ganapathi, have also secured good ranks in international competitions and got jobs in Army in the sports quota under the guidance of the weightlifting coach V. Sathish Kumar. “If an Academy is set up in Kakinada, we can make produce 30 to 40 international quality weightlifters and send them to the Olympics by 2024 and India can get many medals,” said Mr Sathish Kumar. He said that the Academy would provide food to the weightlifters as they need proper nutrition.
However, District Sports Development Officer P.Muralidhar said that a weightlifting auditorium readied at a cost of Rs 1 crore. The state is providing necessary infrastructure facilities for weightlifters, he said. Mr Muralidhar said that all sorts of facilities would be provided to them. However, sportspersons insist that an Academy should be set up for deriving better performance from weightlifters.
